Dear students, parents and carers

As we commence the holiday period, a special message of gratitude is due to students, parents and carers. and staff for the wonderful year we have lived as a school community in 2024. Over the summer break, please stay safe, and take time to restore your personal physical and mental resources amidst the busyness and complexity of contemporary life.

We again have further cause for celebration with the release of once again impressive 2024 Year 12 results, hot on the heels of a highly successful Year 9 Wilderness Week. The spectacular images below show our first Overland Track Year 9 group at the summit of Cradle on Day 1 of their challenging walk. Congratulations go to all students who participated, and in some cases, (when the weather was less friendly than in the photo!) dug deep to uncover reserves of personal resilience and persistence that had previously lain untapped.

Students and parents and carers are deeply appreciative of the work of our wonderful staff team who make possible the tremendous range of activities - camping, bushwalking, surfing, horse riding, bike riding and paddling on rivers and lakes in venues all of Victoria and in Tasmania.

Special thanks to group leaders:

Overland Track : Doug Hendry & Eleanor Horton; Bron Hutchinson & Chris Mullarvey; Cassie Musumeci & Andrew Kelly (and Tim Paoli).

Wilsons Prom; Amber Strantzen & Peter Wood; Julie Anderson & Trent Adams; Kelly Peck, Grant McMurdo & Ashpreet Singh.

Gippsland Lakes: Baden Small & Craig Major

Glenelg River: Sasha Kober & Sue Tyrie

Surf Camp: Chrissie Spurrell, Ashpreet Singh & Dean Robinson

High Country Horse-riding: Bernie Dinneen &Emma Batty

Our thanks also go to the specialist instructor contractors whose contributions are especially appreciated.

Our students have this privileged experience that other government (and many private) schools do not have. Whilst Year 9 students were climbing literal and metaphorical mountains, our Year 12 students have been on their own 2024 journey. The release of results last week has culminated in a metaphorical mountain-top experience of its own, revealing some breathtaking individual and cohort achievements

Pictured: a group of our 90+ ATAR students now enjoying a well-deserved summer break!

Georgie Pettitt, Ben Burchat, Inika Senanayake, Mia Fung, Daniel Shepherd, Lachlan Haydon, Evan Nolte, Sam Schreurs, Emile Jacobs Harriet Fitzgerald, Hannah Potter, Daphne Coleman-Smith, Imogen Lang with Dani Crew & Trevor Smith.

Unable to attend the photo: Jacob Laferlita, Ella Sinclair, April Henry, Suwindi Buckley, Phillippa Jackson, Cedar Christensen-Elliott, Robert Travers, Marigold Parker and Anika Pollock.

A wonderful VCE group, we have previously spoken of the respect that the class of 2024 has amongst our school community. This is only reinforced by their outstanding efforts and some of the most impressive VCE results in recent times.

• Fifty percent of students achieved an ATAR above 80.

• Nineteen percent of students achieved an ATAR above 90.

• Eleven percent of study scores above 40.

• Median study score of 32+.

• Ninety-eight percent completion rate.

Individual honours

The list of students who have achieved outstanding results is long and we celebrate with them. Nonetheless, special congratulations must go to our Class of 2024 Dux - Jacob Laferlita. Jacob is pictured yesterday at 3,500 metres (see below) whilst traveling with family through the Jungfrau in the Swiss Alps. Jacob studied English Language, Maths Methods, Physics, and French achieving an ATAR of 99.0.

Jacob was closely followed by Ella Sinclair (pictured below) who studied English, Literature, Art Creative Practice, Visual Art and French. Ella who is also fortunate to be traveling with family in Europe achieved an ATAR of 98.25. Ella’s too is a remarkable achievement with two folio-based subjects included in her program. Encouragingly, Ella’s impressive results are mirrored by the very strong performance of many of our young women in 2024.

It is also noteworthy and heartening, that many Princes Hill students perform well across multiple fields of VCE endeavour; Languages; Maths; Science; Humanities and the Arts. Indeed, students frequently choose courses that include a blend of subjects that in other school contexts would be rare.

Our genuine thanks go to all the remarkable Princes Hill teachers and support staff who have been helping our class of 2024 students on their journey of learning and growth not only this year but from ages 12-18. A special mention to our Senior School Team -, Leading Teacher Dani Crew, Year Level Coordinators Bianca Carr, Julie Anderson and Chris Mullarvey, ably led by Assistant Principal Jo Sayer.

To our class of 2024…having successfully climbed this mountain, there are now new horizons and adventures ahead.

In late breaking news, there is a new adventure ahead for Assitant Principal Jo Sayer in term 1. Jo will be Acting Principal at Gleneagles Secondary College. We wish Jo all the best in this exciting new endeavour whilst understanding that we will miss her expertise, experience and wisdom.

We welcome Leading Teacher Nick Taylor into Jo's Assistant Principal role for term 1.

Seasons' Greetings!

Trevor Smith

Principal.

Wilderness Week Highlights

Overland Track

Surf, Paddle, Ride

Gippsland Lakes

Glenelg River

High Country Horseriding

Wilsons Promontory